Magazine Eyeballs Its Subscribers

No_Weak_Heart writes "Talk about 'know your customers' -- the NY Times has an interesting article about Reason Magazine's upcoming June issue. Each of the print magazine's 40,000 subscribers will receive a copy of the mag with their name and a satellite photo of their home on the cover!" Although described as a "cover stunt", the magazine's editor "said that the parlor trick could have profound implications as database and printing capabilities grow."

Wouldn't it be better...

If they sent it directly to your gmail account?

Whizbang!

Neat!
Now all I need is my cardboard mooning man cut out to put in my window. Hoo ha!

slow news day?

This is your rights online? I guess it must be a slow newsday. It might be useful for showing John Q. Public exactly how powerful these systems have become but somehow I doubt that will happen. The article even states this:

In some respects, Reason's cover stunt is less Big Brother than one more demonstration that micromarketing is here to stay. "My son gets sports catalogs where his name is imprinted on the jerseys that are on the cover," Mr. Rotenberg said. "He thinks that's very cool."

On the flipside I suppose this justifies my paranoia in continuing to use a P.O. Box for all my mail. And to think I only got the P.O. Box because I was worried about my neighbors stealing my mail. I wonder if my copy would have the Post Office circled?

Re:slow news day?

I'll let you know - I've been using a Mailboxes Etc. (now the UPS Store) address for the past six years and that's the address my issue of Reason will be sent to...

As for showing John Q. Public how powerful these systems are... You should try reading some of the stuff on privacy at Reason's website [reason.com]. Often times, the stuff there is (believe it or not) more insightful than the stuff posted here!!!

I don't think the average Reason subscriber will be all that surprised that their house is on the cover. I'll even bet that a good portion DO have the post office or a PMB or other mail drop circled.

-bs

Re:slow news day?

My county [pwcgov.org] has mapping [pwcgov.org] tools online. It provides detailed overhead views, demographic info, and many useful tools, including tax and assessment information.

Not my address but you can enter 10604 Bristow Road [pwcgov.org] as a good search example of what they offer.
The concept and amount of imformation they have does not really bother me.

I doubt they will stand the /. effect...

Re:slow news day?

As for showing John Q. Public how powerful these systems are... You should try reading some of the stuff on privacy at Reason's website. Often times, the stuff there is (believe it or not) more insightful than the stuff posted here!!!

Oh my God! A magazine has been able to successfully transform AN ADDRESS into a GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION.

Powerful indeed....

Yes, I know--they also showed they could link my address to a low-res satellite image. Good gravy, they know I live in...a light gray pixel.

It's a nice publicity stunt, but I'm not terribly concerned about my privacy being infringed by a mapping satellite. You could get *much* better pictures of my house from a private plane. Or by parking across the street with a camera. There are many real ways in which my privacy may be trampled by government or business; this just isn't one of them.

Re:slow news day?

Except it's only happening on the cover of Reason.

A good point but all that needs to happen is for enough people to take notice. Then the mainstream press will pick up on it. This happens all the time for good or bad. The mainstream press ignores stories until the niche press (for lack of a better word) picks up on it and broadcasts it in everybody's face... then the mainstream is "forced" to follow it.

Fox News will break a story like this and "force" the more mainstream media outlets (CNN, CBS, etc) to carry a story. At least this time it would presumably be doing some good.

Re:slow news day?

Blockquoth Ryan Amos:

I should probably start learning the words to "O Canada."

In my opinion, you're better off learning the words to "Old New Hampshire" [50states.com]. After all, New Hampshire is the One Best shot at a Free State [freestateproject.org]!

Re:slow news day?

Also - from Reason's hit and run section [reason.com]:

Most subscribers will receive an issue that features four cover pages of intensely personalized information, a demonstration of bleeding-edge technology that may one day allow for mass-customized and hyper-individualized print publications (btw, pace the Times' headline, our monthly print circulation totals about 55,000).

So it's not just the cover...

-bs

usually, I am paranoid, this though? no.

BFD. I routinely get the coordinates for addresses (usually geocaches [geocaching.com] but sometimes business addressses and residences) and make both standard Mapquest maps and aerial/topo maps of the location. Terraserver [terraserver.com] is quick and easy to use if you don't have access to some of the scripts out there for this...

How does this have far reaching implications? The information is freely and easily accessible. As databases grow? The information is out there now... It's not exactly as if magazines selling your name/address to others is a new/novel idea. It's been going on for ages.

Perhaps if they had your name and your CURRENT, exact, location on file I would be more concerned...

Re:usually, I am paranoid, this though? no.

I think the point is some people don't think about/realize that the ability to integrate information like that is so easy.

Plus its pretty damn cool they can demand print the magazine covers.

Obviously its a stunt, though... anyone who subscribes to a libertarian magazine probably understands those issues anyway... its a rallying call for them.

Re:usually, I am paranoid, this though? no.

Actually, what impressed me was not the fact that they could get an image of the subscribers address, but that they could obtain it, print it, and include it in a normal magazine publishing run as anywhere near a reasonable cost!

I thought most printing press houses ran high-speed presses with no time to include a specific cover for each individual issue printed. I assume the specific cover will include the mailing address for mailing purposes. If not, associating the right issue with the right mailing label on a print line is even more of a feat. What's next? Totally individualized dead-tree magazines for every subscriber of every rag out there? This could get interesting.

Visual representation

Of course the data itself is not new and there is nothing controversial about this per se. The real issue is in the visual representation of your geographic data which demonstrates to you specifically that your home location is *known*. Of course the magazine has always *known* where you live because they mail the periodical to your house. But for some reason, showing folks information in a graphical or visual format makes it more real. Therefore, I would not say this is a gimmick, but that it would enforce the idea to those who may not think as much in their daily lives the issues of privacy and information customization and product dissemination to consumers.

newstand copies?

What cover will they put on newstands? The home of the person who buys the magazine? That would be impressive.

GF.

Re:newstand copies?

If I see a copy with my home at the newsstand, I'll buy it :)

It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off...

The magazine's trick here really isn't that hard... in that for every subscriber they of course have an address, and adresseses can be converted to geographic coordinates using the same technology MapQuest [mapquest.com] has had for years. It's just a matter of getting a satellite photo that shows that coordinate as the center point, and applying the circling to the image. After that, it's just a typical variable printing job.

Modern printing technologies make it very easy for a 40,000-subscriber magazine to send out a different cover to each and every subscriber. It's just a matter of doing a 40,000 page run of each of the "customized" sets of pages with the image database available, and then the common pages can be wrapped around after printing them the typical way. Here's the homepage for VIPP [xerox.com], Xerox's technology for doign such "variable data" printing jobs on its industrial class printing products.

Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off...

This may be "easy" technically, but in practice it is a very large job. Digital printing has been able to do this for a while but the logistics has been difficult. Putting a sticker with the address on it after the run and during the shipping process has been the norm since the subscription idea started. A major magazine doing it with a 40,000 person database is a big deal. This may be the start of all the pipe dreams of personalized one-to-one advertising that have been around the printing industry for years.

Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off...

One-to-one advertising has existed for years. During the dot-com bubble I worked for a company that specialized in doing it. [fluenttech.com] Really, it's just a matter that you don't usually realize that something you're reading has been customized to you because you don't have somebody else's copy to hold next to it, and the changing of content often subtile enough not to scare you, unlike this one where the customization screams out that it's just for you.

OMG

You mean when I subscribe to a magazine they know where I live????

A-ha!

So that's why the NYT wants us to register! But I'm way ahead of them... the way I've polished my tin foil hat lately all they'll pick up from my location is their own flash! Hah!

... whaddayamean satellites don't use flash photography..?

Cusomized

"What if you received a magazine that only had stories and ads that you were interested in and pertained to you?"

They already have this. It's called the internet.

Personally, the fact that this is cheap enough to be feasible for a print medium is far more impressive to me than the fact that it is technically possible.

Re:Cusomized

You must not be using the same internet I'm using! :-)

Streisand wouldn't approve

Seems something like this happened not so long ago in California and somebody [siliconvalley.com] got upset.

When will...

...the satellite image be taken? I want to do some nude sunbathing in the backyard when it happens.

Re:Hate to burst your bubble

That could explain all the email I receive about suntan oil and penis enlargement......

What if...

What if I live underground like the Mole People?

Facilitation of voyeurism

they will see on the cover a satellite photo of a neighborhood - their own neighborhood. And their house will be graphically circled.

Hopefully some of the subscribers live in neighborhoods with a lot of rooftop pools--and pool parties.

PO Box

My mailing address is a PO Box. Heh. Go get'em, Reason.

I can see her house from here!

"Hey! I can see that cute chick's house from here! Hey, what's she doing to the fireplace?"
- Some Architect Dude

The slippery slope

The reason this is a big deal is not because they have a satellite photo of your house. Everyone with a brain knows that information is out there on terraserver and a dozen other services.

The problem with this stunt is that it is a harbinger of things to come. When marketers are able to fully customize each page of a magazine to appeal to a particular consumer, they will acquire a lot of personal information from tens or hundreds of different marketing databases in order to do so.

In essence, the improvements in printing technology that made this possible will contribute to the proliferation of your personal information.

The only way to solve this is to implement EU-style privacy protections at the Federal level. We need to ask ourselves - who's looking out for you? It's obviously not our government.

Easier than a zip code?

Maybe they just have a lot of problems with the Postal Service delivering their magazine to the wrong address.

Printing?

I wonder if they will use an HP/Indigo DigitalPress. These things are monster offset printers that can do huge jobs, but are able to print a different image/source on each successive page.

They are really quite amazing.

Check them here: HP.com [hp.com]

Re:Printing?

RTFA.

"Rodger Cosgrove, president of Entremedia, a direct marketing firm and a member of Reason's board, assisted in coming up with a program that allows the subscriber list to be integrated with satellite photographs. He also worked with Xeikon, the manufacturer of the printer that made the endless customization possible."

Do it yourself...

If you're in the USA, you can see your own address plotted for yourself by TerraServer at this page here. [terraserver.com] The version that the magazine is using is likely a higher resolution source that they had to pay for. These guys even have pictures over "Area 51" [terraserver.com].

Dated photographs reduce the shock effect

You mean it will be interesting for the people whose houses are more than 10 years old. The satellite photos on the public databases are so dated it's ridiculous. Wow look, I got a magazine with a picture of a corn field on the cover!

Customized Home & Garden's Magazine

The real killer app will be when Home & Garden's magazine zooms in on your home and analyzes your landscaping and house. Different people might get different covers and articles on rejuvenating dead lawns, trimming overgrown trees, or xeriscaping. You might even discover you've won the contest for most beautiful garden with an aerial view.

And they could even analyze your house & land for marketing opportunities. If the satellite veiw is oblique and the paint is peeling, they could forward your name to the local aluminum siding company or house painters.

Time to get a PO box!

Costs somewhat offset...

...by the discount the post office gives them for the thoughtfully included map to the delivery address on the cover.

Are their intentions menat to be ironic or not?

Ostensibly, the main idea was to make readers more aware of the realities of living life as a row in a database. But then there's Chief Editor Gillispie's closing quote: "What if you received a magazine that only had stories and ads that you were interested in and pertained to you? That would be a magazine that everyone would want to read." This seems to indicate a conflict of interests; that Reason recognizes the peril, but can't help but consider the possibilities of catering to individual readers by exploiting personal data.

Of course, this attempt at pandering generally fails in my experience. My being interested in 'Gardening' or 'Outdoor Life' is lightyears away from wanting a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens or Sports Illustrated, personalization or no. This is due to the critical distinction between essence and product.

The phrase "Free Minds, Free Markets" also seems to me to be a contradiction in terms, although "Free Markets" leaves room for interpretation. I guess I'm reading this wrong, because to my mind, the notion of individuality resists the concept of demographic marketing, no matter how "free."

My Mailman

My mailman will still manage to deliver it to the neighbor's house by accident.

Re:My Mailman

I can picture the mailman with a lot of Reason subscribers...

As he delivers the magazines, he notices that the red circle is moving with him.

They know where you are, Mailman!! Run! Run!

Reason

I love the magazine personally, but I ended up stopping my subscription and just picking up a copy on the newstand whenever I happened to catch it.

Ironically, for a magazine that runs so many good articles on privacy issues, they whored my address to anyone and everyone. I never got so much crap junkmail as after I started a subscription. And tenacious bulkmailers, sending thick wads every other month or so for years.

While I can understand the reasoning behind the stunt, they might want to take a long hard look in the mirror first before preaching.

Re:Reason

Ironically, for a magazine that runs so many good articles on privacy issues, they whored my address to anyone and everyone. I never got so much crap junkmail as after I started a subscription. And tenacious bulkmailers, sending thick wads every other month or so for years. While I can understand the reasoning behind the stunt, they might want to take a long hard look in the mirror first before preaching.

Perhaps this is their way of illustrating just how bad an idea it is to give anyone your address...Teaching by demonstration, if you will...

Glad I'm not a subscriber...

My apartment's a shit hole.

My magazine cover would feature the goatse guy.

Oh I can see it now...

-wife- Hey hun we just got the customized Magazine in the mail. OH kewl it even has a picture of the whole neighborhood! What quality even!
-looks closer- Hey hun is that you? What are doing with the neighbors wife? Why is she naked??

More scary

They've been printing my ADDRESS on the cover for months.

John.

This exists already

"What if you received a magazine that only had stories and ads that you were interested in and pertained to you?"

It's called Maxim [maximonline.com].

Know what would be really interesting?

I'd like to see the magazine use the Freedom of Information act and insert some of a person's file into each magazine (maybe a random person?). Of course, I don't think you could automate it, it would be expensive, and the feds would give you a hassle... but if you could...

Reason: Free Minds, Free Markets

Any opinion you like, as long as it's capitalist extremism.

Wouldn't it suck if

they took the picture of your house while your mistress was parked outside?

LK

That's NOTHING, This Is WORSE....

I just got my May copy of Playboy, and it had My NAME IN BOLD PRINT AND A PICTURE OF ME NAKED ON THE COVER!!!

And that's not just my copy, that's *all of them*. I hear Hugh Hefner was pissed because I dissed him on Fark.

The Lesson? Don't mess with guys who buy ink by the barrel and can photoshop a tattoo of Fabio onto your butt.

Personalized Cover Story to Boot!

I can see it now, I picture of my weedy front lawn with "Mow Your Freakin' Law, John Doe" as the cover story. What is next? A picture of my car with words "Wash Me" add to the trunk by the Magazine editors!

So when I pick this up on the newstand....

it will have my name and a sat picture of my house? What happens if someone picks up my copy first? That is a privacy concern!

this is actually the wave of the marketing future.

Its called DPOD . digital print on demand. Customize the marketing and sales to a person entirely ... not just a word mail merge... a photo merge, where the vacation photo you took on your cruise is sent back, superimposed on the larger, cooler cruise ship out this year. a few companies merge output from popular graphics design tools, like quark, with XML and other stuff, which get their feed from marketing databases.

I work for a small firm who develops software that is sold to companies that do specific mail marketing. a lot of people are looking for this.

Just plain cool

I'm a pretty bad satt map junkie. I've built a collection from various web sources of old home towns, vacations spots, places I've been, etc.

I don't really see the problem with it. About the only thing that's roughly close to being up to date is the landsat 7 IR maps, and those will give you a headache if you look at em too long.

But for general viewing, I usually go though lostoutdoors.com or teraserver depending on what kind of map format I want. lostoutdoors has a pretty limited interface, but if you get your coordinates narrowed down from teraserver, you can get a nice big detailed map of the area, as well as the topo map. Usually you can get something within the last 5 years from airplane survey photos stitched together.

Was fun looking at old places I'd been and seeing what had changed. Was disapointed that the hardware store in marshalltown iowa had not kept the writing on their roof so I could see it on there. Was primarily something used by the local pilots back in the day. Would have been really cool to read it off of satellite, web server airplane photos, or even landsatt(unlikely on that though as the resolution is iffy).

Until you have cheap lifting vehicles for space, you can forget the enemy of the state nonsense. You'll get some interesting views, but the chance of it being more recent than a year ago if you live in the sticks is nil. It would simply take way way too many birds to get same day data on everyone, not to mention a lot of luck unless you were also in a very arid pollution free area. Being a several thousand feet about sea level helps too.

Also this will be a great personal collectors item to subscribers. But I suspect in time it'll be like the national geographic holographic skull pic. A neat gimick, soon to be copied by everyone and old news really fast.

I think the upside will be that interest will spike for a while, and people will want more up to date and higher rez photos, faster web servers for the data, etc.

For me though, there is no downside, I got most of what I want for the moment, so if all the USGS servers choke for weeks, its no big deal.

Incorrect Mail Leads to Privacy Breakdown?

What happens if you're a subscriber but your copy has the house & name of someone else? Isn't that against some kind of privacy law for which NY Times could potentially be sued?